C-Spot

In our C-Spot department, you'll find exclusive interviews with people like Ann Krcik, the Senior Director of Brand Communication and Outdoor Exploration at The North Face and co-founder of OIWC who passed away in February 2018.

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Welcome to the C-Spot, where you'll find deep, stimulating, and exclusive interviews with C-level executives from the outdoor and adventure travel industries.

When you want to get to know the people in the corner offices, our outdoor industry interviews will do the trick.

We ask the tough questions, the fun questions, and and everything in between.

In front of a room of journalists in March, Jonathan Nielsen described himself as really good snowboarder, a frequent mountain biker, and an adequate climber. The audience chuckled and the Backcountry CEO took a pause before spilling his excitement over the company's biggest ...read more

James Kubik, 27, lost a friend to a sailing accident during his childhood. His friend, her younger sister, and her father were separated from their boat and didn't have a way to call for help and ultimately, she drowned. Their marine-grade SOS device and other safety equipment ...read more

Victoria Payne describes herself in 2006 as a non-athletic, African American single mom who was trying to climb the corporate ladder as a number cruncher in corporate America. Her closet was filled with colorful silk tops, pant suits, and pumps. She sat in a cubicle and she was ...read more

ORCA CEO Cliff Walker spends much of the year on the road, in business attire, selling his brand's coolers and drinkware. So when he’s home working in the Nashville headquarters, he comes casual, dressed in earth-toned shorts and a T-shirt. That down-to-earth approach is a good ...read more

You won’t find Jeremy Hale wearing jeans. Whether he’s in the office, out hiking, or enjoying time off at his family’s cabin in New York, he’s wearing Chinos. Specifically, Mountain Khakis Chinos. “I’m a Chino guy,” he told us last week before he officially started as the ...read more

Joe Prebich has a theory: Emerging outdoor enthusiasts come for the lifestyle apparel and stay for the technical goods. As climbing gyms explode and the more seasoned indoor climbers literally seek new heights, Mammut—and the industry as a whole—have an opportunity to help ...read more

Farm to Feet is a young brand but its foundation runs deep. Kelly Nester, CEO of Nester Hosiery, has been a leader in hosiery manufacturing for close to three decades. Marty Nester, his uncle, founded the company in 1993. Within two years, Kelly joined, and the family duo ...read more

Forty-six years ago, a passionate hiker, climber and camper named John Burroughs had a groundbreaking idea: Sleeping on the solid earth, surrounded by the wilderness that he loved, shouldn’t need to be miserable. Burroughs had a PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford and, at ...read more

Eight years after becoming the first wool company in the world to incorporate traceability into its products (with its innovative “Baacode”), and just two months after announcing its acquisition by VF Corp., New Zealand’s 22-year-old Icebreaker turns the spotlight on its own ...read more

We all know the outdoor industry is hardly as diverse as it needs to be. It's something we've discussed time and time again, yet there's so much more work that needs to be done. Jeff Wiguna, co-founder of pocket pour-over brand Kuju Coffee, has been working on a way for outdoor ...read more

A couple of years ago, Cotopaxi was a small brand with five backpacks. Now, the company makes more than 150 SKUs, and the stories behind some of its products have gone viral. Cotopaxi is a colorful company in ways that go way beyond its signature neon hues: It runs a highly ...read more

Last week, Snowsports Industry America (SIA) announced that Emerald Expositions, owner of the Outdoor Retailer, has purchased his group’s Snow Show, which will merge with OR Winter Market in Denver beginning in January 2018. For many, this merger has been a long time coming and ...read more

In January 2017, Travis Campbell took the steering wheel at Smartwool following Mark Satkiewicz’s abrupt departure. Prior to the move, Campbell served as the president and CEO of Far Bank Enterprises, an integrated manufacturer and distributor of fly fishing produces and owner ...read more

In his first interview as Mountain Hardwear's new president, Joe Vernachio talks about the brand's relationship with retailers, diversity in the industry, and a renewed focus on climbing. Industry veteran Joe Vernachio takes them helm at Mountain Hardwear this month. Vernachio ...read more

“Coup” opens up about what went wrong at GoLite and how My Trail will be better. In 1998, Demetri “Coup” Coupounas, a passionate hiker, started building the gear he wanted but wasn’t finding from traditional brands. GoLite was a technical brand aimed at hardcore hikers looking ...read more

Ted Manning got an early start in the outdoor industry, first pinning on an Eastern Mountain Sports name tag at age 17. Now the CEO of Ibex, Manning’s a far cry from that sales floor-roaming kid, but he’s yet to forget his roots. In the past year, Ibex has worked to bridge the ...read more

In the mid-70s a Jackson Hole ski patroller prone to losing his shades took a sharp pair of scissors and an old neoprene wetsuit and created the very first Croakies. Soon, all his ski patrol buddies were asking for them and the company was born. This year marks Croakies’ 40th ...read more

At 41, Jon Hoerauf is young to be an executive at a major international brand. But he got into the industry young, while he was in college. He later became the global product director of The North Face’s Summit Series. There were only a few brands he’d consider leaving TNF for, ...read more

Shannon Stowell, president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), doesn’t just know how to beat up gear on adventures all over the planet. He knows how to sell it, too. Before becoming president of ATTA in 2004, Stowell co-founded altrec.com, an online outdoor and ...read more

Consumers might never even hear the name Vista Outdoor, but that’s just the way CEO Mark DeYoung likes it. Because at Vista, parent company of CamelBak, Jimmy Styks, Giro, Bell, Bushnell and more than 40 other outdoor companies, it’s all about the brands. The Utah native sat down ...read more

In 2011, Graeme Esarey joined Industrial Revolution which makes Candle Lanterns, Pedco tripods, Ice Cream Balls, and Grilliput, and distributes Light My Fire, Esbit, and Mora. He was promoted to president in 2013, and launched a bold new retailer program this year. The Go and See ...read more

As TGR celebrates its 21st birthday, the extreme sports media company is at the height of its Millennialsm - even though its founders are in their 40s. The Jackson Hole-based company has grown from a rag-tag group of ski bums to one of the world’s most decorated media companies, ...read more

SNEWS: It’s widely accepted that if you’re a woman in the outdoor industry (or anyone in the outdoor industry, really), Smartwool is one of the best places to work. Is that something that started happening organically or was it a conscious effort to recruit, retain, and embrace ...read more

SNEWS: What prompted you to start OIWC, and how was it received back then? AK: In the early 90s there were woman creating careers in the Outdoor Industry—like Kitty Bradley from Nike, Sally McCoy at The North Face, Niede Cooley at Marmot, Karen t’Kint from FiveTen, and Joan ...read more